They only have to give Totally Games the money and time to make it. They are, after all, the ones originally responsible for the awesomeness that is the star wars combat flight sim/game in the first place

Really? I thought Balance of Power was an XvT expansion. I don't remember them ever releasing an expansion for XWA.... which would have been good, as the story in XWA just stopped! They were clearly hinting at an expansion to continue the story... but never made one (afaik).
XvT was ahead of it's time I think. Personally it's one of the only games i've ever returned to a store. That was because it wasn't at all what i expected. I LOVED tie-fighter, and for some reason i was expecting the same... but it was just a load of multiplayer skirmishes.
that said, i heard that if you could set up a full game then the multiplayer rocked... very tactical and awesome. But releasing a mulitiplayer only game in an era before decent internet connections was a terrible idea. NOW it might work.
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Personally I love Tie fighter (and x-wing). And i'd love to see a sequel. BUT i can't see it being successful.
I tried a few flight sims recently (freespace, etc..) and they just don't work on gamepads. But no-one has joysticks anymore. I guess they'd want to make it for both PC and console, but i can't see how that kind of game could ever work well on a console (see Starfighter), or even on PCs without joysticks.
They'd have to bundle it with some kind of star-wars joystick.
But, i guess if you told me 6 months ago that everyone would be going nuts for adventure games, i'd never have believed it. So maybe it's what's needed to revive the flight-sim/space-sim genre?

I loved both X-Wing and Tie Fighter, and would be ecstatic if they released a new game along the originals vein. Correct me if I'm wrong but it's been quite awhile since there's been a good space fighting sim released.
BTW DarrkPhoenix, what's with the purine derivative, are you a chemist/biologist?

s'cos no-one buys em. :-(

I thought that MS's Freelancer sold reasonably well? I think that's the most recent game from this genre...

If you build it, they will come... Unless its got stupid DRM
Crap! Sorry it is XvT, just got used to typing XWA. I agree that it was a product before its time but having had a good long talk to a mate about a new XW/TF game, we thought you could very well do it on consoles and lose very little. Just thinking about the layout of the xbox pad here but:
left stick: craft movement
right stick: view movement (click for enemy padlock)
right trigger: lasers (+RB: Switch weapons)
left trigger: warheads (+RB: switch warheads)
left bumper: Wingman order modifier
right bumper: Command modifier
dpad up: speed up (+LB: Attack my target) (+RB: Shields full forward)
dpad down: speed down (+LB: Defend my target) (+RB: shields full back)
dpad left: previous target (+LB: attack targetted system) (+RB: weapon energy to shields)
dpad right: next target (+LB: defend me) (+RB: shield energy to weapons)
A: Select target under reticle (+LB: Ignore target) (+RB: Select newest or select objective)
B: next target (+LB: evade) (+RB: previous target)
Y: next subsystem (+LB: Wingmen leave) (+RB: hyperspace)
X: Match target speed (+RB: call support)
Back: Map
Start: Menu
Seems to be most of the commands with an admittedly somewhat clunky interface but I think it'd be pretty damn playable that way.

Except even Freelancer wasn't really a "flight sim." The controls were mouse-driven. Don't get me wrong, they worked well, and the game was quite fun to play. It's still one of my favorites, but it barely fits into the genre. I'd have to say that Starlancer was probably the last real representative.
And I have to add my name to the list of people griping about how "nobody makes joysticks anymore." I used to have an old Gravis Blackhawk which was pretty much the best stick -ever.- I loved that thing, it was perfect for me. (Hell, if I remember right, that bit in one of the Star Trek movies where Riker flies the Enterprise-E via the "manual steering column?" He's using the same kind of stick I had. But it broke years ago, and I've never been able to find one I liked nearly as much. It just SUCKS.
Maybe if people start making the games again, the market in flight-sticks will resurge, too. We can only hope.

Logitech & Saitek make some good quality flight sticks, when I still had a gaming PC capable of running IL2, I used a Saitek X45 with a Logitech wingman extreme 3d, the former for the throttle, the latter for the stick that actually has a twist rudder and lacked a cosmetic handguard apparently made for people with less fingers than me
The new mechwarrior might also be a possible factor in the resurgence of sticks but mostly the n00bs will want mouse control like in COD4 (and even then they'll probably whine because the mechs move slowly)

Yep. Trained in organic synthesis, currently putting those skills to use as a med chemist. I'm also an avid coffee drinker, hence the avatar. ;)
Aliasalpha: Even with that layout there would be quite a few commands missing. Just going from TIE Fighter controls (and from memory after ten years or so) you have your beam weapon controls, weapon fire mode (alternating/linked), SLAMS (alright, those were missile boat only, and probably wouldn't make another appearance, but DAMN I loved those things), charging rates for shields and beam, call for reinforcements, and I'm sure a bunch of others that I've forgotten over the years. One of the things that made TIE Fighter so great was the depth and level of control the player had, and I just don't see a console controller being able to handle all that (which would probably result in the game being significantly trimmed down so that it could be played on a console).

While I've never really been a "hardcore enthusiast" when it comes to the whole simulation thing, I probably came pretty close with space combat games, and the idea of "dumbing down" a game like TIE Fighter in order to get it to work with a console controller is just about the most awful idea I can think of to do to a classic like that. Sure, there are "flying" games that can be fun on a console, but they're action games, not intended to be "simulations" and I can appreciate them for what they are. But sometimes, you want something with a little more depth - a little more meat, and that's something you really need a PC for. A PC with a good flight stick, and a full keyboard at your disposal.
And for what it's worth, I currently have a "Logitech Extreme 3D Pro" which I've been using for Freespace and Starlancer, but it just doesn't have the same feel as my old Gravis. It's serviceable, but that's about the best I can say for it.

I do agree that there's be a lot of things you would lose, personally I'd never mourn the loss of beam weapons, they always seemed a cheap tacked on piece of crap that never felt star wars to me but I understand the desire not to lose them.
I think the point is to distill it down to the absolute essentials and then add the would be nice stuff from there. Not ideal but if they want to make a cross platform product with the same features then they sort of have to

It's not so much fitting the controls on a gamepad (which might be possible), it's that it just doesn't have the FEEL of flying with a joystick.
I tried and tried to play freespace that way, and i could map a lot of the controls to the gamepad (as freespace 2 has lots of auto/assist functions) but i just didn't enjoy the flying. With a thumbstick it just feels really light and weightless... makes it feel like an FPS or arcade game.
Maybe it's just me...
But while you could put all the essentials onto a gamepad, one of the things i liked about flightsims was all the controls and options... if you take out a lot of the wingman commands, different targeting/shield/weapon/repair/laser/etc.. options and controls, it just becomes an arcade blaster like Starfighter (ick!).
I like being able to choose tiny things like the firing sequence and ranging of my lasers. :-o
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That said, i do think a modern space sim COULD rock, if it made use of modern tech. We could have huge battles (though TF managed that pretty well) and make use of realistic physics. And really detailed 3d cockpits.
But the thing that'd really rock would be if they could make the missions dynamic and have the enemy AI react tactically to events on the battlefield... rather than the tightly scripted missions of the past.
(plus if the mixed XvT and Allegiance they'd essentially have an awesome mulitplayer game right there...)

Nice, I'm an organometallic chemist, though I'm currently doing surface chemistry...
I'm afraid I agree with everybody who thinks that a console version might severely hamper a proper remake. Here's hoping that if they make a PC version it'll play like it should

I agree it wasn't a true flight sim, but I think the spirit was still there, if somewhat dumbed down by the mouse interface.

If it's a new game, well I hope it will be as much simulation than the old ones. If it's just another Rogue Squadron, it could be fun, but it will not be a *true* X-Wing/TIE-Fighter game...
I just wonder if there are a lot of actual players who would enjoy a Star Wars flight sim now. Arcade shooters are more *casual-friendly*...

I played a couple of WW2 flight sims on my friends xbox the other day, first was a complete dumbed down piece of crap that he'd borrowed from someone he works with.
I then convinced him to download the demo for IL-sturmovik 2, and I have to say, it worked very well with an xbox controller.
It worked so well in fact, that this weekend I'll be going out to buy a joystick and downloading the IL-sturmovik game from GOG. [should mention I have no xbox, and despite the ease of use of the 360 pad, I always prefer the right tool for the job!]